The Minister of Labor and Social Development is in close contact with City Market to understand how it may assist workers as unease sets in over the recent store closures.
The Minister, Dion Foulkes, told Guardian Business yesterday he's in daily communication with Mark Finlayson, who along with his family owns 78 percent of the shares in City Market's
holding company Bahamas Supermarkets Limited.
According to Foulkes, the company is trying to hold onto as many staff members as possible.
"My understanding is that Finlayson is attempting to keep employees and reduce the work-week as opposed to layoffs," Foulkes said.  "Their main concern is to try to keep as many persons engaged as possible."
Meanwhile, as the Minister lends his support, at least one wholesaler is hoping that City Market will pull through its ongoing challenges and see a return to the business it enjoyed in better times, however.
Vice president of Bahamas Wholesale Agencies, John Robertson, told Guardian Business yesterday that although any loss of business that results from further declines in City Market's business would likely be picked up by other customers, the
chain had been a good customer for years.
"We want to see City Market succeed and are disappointed they are struggling a little now," Robertson said.  "We are hoping they can come out of this and expand to where they were."
This newspaper published City Market's announcement Thursday that it was closing four stores - two permanently in Grand Bahama effective midnight Wednesday the 14th, and two temporarily in New Providence for renovations.
Until at least the end of the year, there will only be three City Market locations in operation.
The company said yesterday that it was redirecting staff from its South Beach store to its Cable Beach location.  Workers from the Sea Grapes store will join its Harbour Bay location in New Providence.  In Grand Bahama, staff formerly working at Eight Mile Rock and Downtown Freeport stores were directed to report to the Lucaya Store, which City Market said would move to the chain's 24-hour format.
No layoffs as a result of the store closures were announced up to press-time.  The government was, nevertheless, preparing to assist workers should layoffs ensue, according to the Minister.
"We have put several things in place to help in Grand Bahama, as we did with the layoffs at Our Lucaya, including facilitating and fast tracking the unemployment benefit.  We are also facilitating as many as possible to apply for the [National Job and Skills Training Initiative] in Grand Bahama," the Minister said.
The employees converging on the remaining stores likely means drastic weekly reductions in how many hours line-workers are able to log.  Barring an investment injection and new store openings, the current scenario may be unsustainable.
Guardian Business asked the question of how long the chain could sustain its current employment levels, but had no response up to press time.
According to the company, the renovations in the Nassau stores include an "overhaul" to fix infrastructural issues and address challenges it says have "plagued" the refrigeration system and other equipment.  The company is reporting it does not expect renovations to conclude before the end of the year.
These most recent closures follow the closures of its Lyford Cay and Rosetta Street stores early last month.
At its peak, City Market had eight locations in Nassau and three in Grand Bahama.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian